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Socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro claimed on Monday that the Venezuelan opposition, which he described as representing “fascist extremism,” wants to stage a civil war in the country similar to that of Syria.

Maduro was a longtime ally of former Syrian dictator Bashar Assad and remains close to Assad’s former patrons in Iran and Russia.

Assad fled to Russia over the weekend with his family shortly after Sunni jihadists from the al-Qaeda offshoot Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) terrorist organization entered Damascus, marking the end of his over two-decade-old authoritarian regime. His father Hafez Assad ruled the country for about 30 years before his son took over.

Maduro, whose regime maintained ideological ties and a shared anti-U.S. stance with Assad’s, made the assertions during an official event commemorating the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Ayacucho.

“We are observing the development of painful circumstances for the people of Syria. Now, the shameless [members] of fascist extremism are coming out to ask for a civil war to be waged in Venezuela as well,” Maduro said.

“I tell you: Make no mistake, because the people of Venezuela, in perfect fusion, popular-military-police, will triumph through the path of peace. And in Venezuela there will be peace, stability, national union, and the Constitution will prevail,” he continued.

According to Maduro, “every time there is an event in the world,” the U.S. “empire” and the Venezuelan opposition want to replicate it in Venezuela.

Maduro, and virtually every member of his top brass, have spent the past two decades repeatedly accusing the United States and the Venezuelan opposition of conspiring together to topple the Venezuelan socialist regime. The Venezuelan socialists repeated their accusations in recent months following Maduro’s fraudulent July 28 presidential election, which he insists he “won” for a new six-year presidential term slated to begin on January 10, 2025.

The Maduro regime used the conspiracy accusations to justify the arrest of several American citizens who, according to regime officials, were allegedly plotting to assassinate Maduro or carry out other “terrorist” attacks in Venezuela. Neither Maduro, nor any member of his regime, has presented evidence that can substantiate the accusations.

The Venezuelan socialist regime maintained close friendly ties with Assad’s now-deposed regime that began in the days of late dictator Hugo Chávez, as both dictators bonded over their shared anti-U.S. sentiments. Chávez and Assad visited each other in 2010.

Chávez awarded Assad during his visit to Caracas and gifted him with a replica of the sword of Venezuelan independence hero Simón Bolivar. The late socialist dictator reaffirmed his support of Assad in remarks given to international reporters in October 2012.

Maduro continued to reinforce the bilateral relationship after he succeeded Chávez, who died of an undisclosed type of cancer in 2013. Last year, both regimes held talks together with Iran for the construction of an oil refinery in the Syrian town of Homs that, if built, would have yielded  profits for all three regimes and, in the case of Iran, would have likely helped fund international terrorism.

Last week, days before Assad’s ouster, Maduro held a telephone conversation with Assad in which the Venezuelan dictator pledged his support to Assad’s regime “in the face of terrorist actions” and Syria’s “fight against terrorism and its sponsoring countries.”

Assad was ousted over the weekend, fleeing to Russia with his family, where he received political asylum from Russian strongman Vladimir Putin.

On Tuesday, the Maduro regime released a statement claiming that it is “closely following” the events in Syria — without making any mention of Assad’s ouster nor his arrival to Russia. 

Instead, the Venezuelan socialist regime expressed its desire that “this brotherly people may find a path towards the peaceful resolution of their differences, without external interference or the use of violence as a mechanism to address political conflicts.”

“Venezuela reiterates its commitment to the preservation of the territorial unity of Syria, as well as the defense of its sovereignty, independence and absolute respect for the values enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, with special emphasis on the preservation of the civil, political and human rights of its entire population, without distinction of any kind,” the statement read.

“This includes the protection and peaceful coexistence of the diverse religious, cultural and ethnic expressions that enrich the identity of that country, Cradle of Civilizations,” the statement continued.

Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.